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Alligators living in the Southern Idaho Desert
Paul Fredericks
If we're going to talk about something, the Hagerman area is about as historical as it gets. Or should I say "pre-historical." It is famous for it's fossil beds and the dinosaur bones discovered in the area.
Which leads me to talking about Leo Ray's fish farm outside Hagerman.
"The sturgeon are more fun to work with than any other fish I ever raised," he says.
Ray raises catfish and trout. But, his favorite is the sturgeon -- an ancient fish that dates back 70 million years.
"The biggest one we had was pushing 300 pounds," Ray says.
His sturgeon are a part of a niche business for their caviar.
"It takes 8 to 10 to 12 years to produce sturgeon for caviar," he says.
But, to be honest, I'm not trying to tell a fish tale. I want to tell a different tail -- and a leg -- and all 500 pounds of a different prehistoric creature on his farm.
"There's about 40 or 50 here now."
A pond has become an alligator paradise on Ray's property.
"From about three feet all the way up to about 11-12 feet in this area."
Gators may be native to the tropical everglades. But, these living fossils seem at home in this small spot in the southern Idaho desert.
"Cattails, reeds, things like that is their preferred habitat."
And that habitat is found inside the fenced in area around the pond.
"If it's over 90, they want to get in the shade or go back into the water."
"We could sell the meat for as much as any other meat would sell for. And the hide for as much as the meat."
Ray is the only gator farmer in Idaho. That may make him unique, but he doesn't think raising the cold blooded critters makes him cool.
"I guess think of cool is something the public may think. You know, it's just like raising cows to us."
And his expenses are nearly nothing. For one, Ray feeds the gators the dead and processed fish from his farm.
"And anytime you can grow an animal on free food, it should be profitable," he says.
"And with the dead fish from the fish farm and the waste from the processing plant, we had free food."
And there's the natural flowing geo-thermal water that keeps the pond warm all year round.
"In addition, with the geo-thermal water here, we had free heat to keep them at that 85 to 90 degrees," Ray says. "That you have to have to keep them growing."
And, believe it or not, Ray says even with these ferocious looking animals, there's never been a close call on the farm.
"Most North American animals, and the gator included, are afraid of people," he says. "And they're going to get away from you if they can."
"They want to be left alone. The only reason they come to you is they think you're going to feed 'em."
"Workers comp insurance for someone working on a gator farm is actually less than it is for somebody working on a trout farm. The accident rate is lower."
But, Ray has drastically scaled back his gator operation.
"We were carrying about 2,000 head all the time."
A few years ago, he received a baby gator infected with west Nile virus.
"We have not been bringing any babies in since the crop of babies came in with west Nile," Ray says. "We did not want to be responsible for spreading it across the state."
Ray says some gator hatcheries in the southern U.S. are working to develop west Nile free facilities.
"Until we can be assured that we're not bringing west Nile virus in, we won't bring anymore in."
But, he's hanging onto the ones left in the pond. He says they'll always have a special place on his farm.
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